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Shareholders in St James’s Place are not happy. Some of the wealth manager’s
big-gun investors had the daggers out for Merrill Lynch yesterday for its
role in a controversial share sale undertaken by its biggest shareholder,
Lloyds Banking Group.

Merrills agreed this week to waive an agreement that had prevented Lloyds
selling fresh shares in SJP for a year. The bank had undertaken the lock-up
arrangement in March, after successfully offloading a 20 per cent stake via
two placings that raised £500 million.

The City had been waiting with bated breath for Lloyds, which inherited a near
60 per cent